ACTION ALERT: Urge U.S. to Insist Germany Keep its Word to Israel for Unopposed United Nations Security Council Seat

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Released by Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) president Morton A. Klein

Call & Urge Your Senators To:

Urge The U.S. To Insist That Germany Keep Its Word To Israel & Permit Israel To Run Unopposed For A Seat On The United Nations Security Council As A Member of The Western European & Others Group (WEOG)

ALERT:

Germany is about to violate a US-brokered deal, agreed upon in 2000, which was designed to enable Israel to run for a seat on the United Nations Security Council in 2019 as part of the Western European & Others Group (WEOG) within the UN system, of which Israel is a member.

It is vital that you call your Senators today and demand that the United States keep its word to Israel by demanding of Germany that it abide by the 2000 agreement and not seek a Security Council seat in 2019.

BACKGROUND:

The Security Council is comprised of five permanent members—the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom—and 10 non-permanent members that are selected for two-year terms. Two non-permanent members are selected from each one of the five regional blocs.

In 2000, the United States and its European allies invited Israel to join the WEOG at the UN. (Previously, Israel had been in the Asia Group, where the Arab members of that group refused to allow Israel to run for any UN committees as the Asia Group representative). Accordingly, in 2000, Israel changed regional groups at the UN and joined the 28-country WEOG, which is presently represented by Sweden and the Netherlands until the end of 2018.

At this point, Richard Holbrooke, then-US Ambassador to the United Nations, brokered an agreement: in return for the WEOG membership allowing Israel to join the WEOG, Israel committed to “go to the end of the line” and wait 19 years to put itself forward at the UN Security Council for one of the WEOG seats on the Council.

This year is Israel’s turn to put itself forward to be elected, along with Belgium, for one of the two WEOG seats on the UN Security Council.

However, recently, Germany decided to run for a seat as the WEOG representative, too. This means that there are now THREE countries running for TWO seats as the WEOG representatives.

ACTION:

The US must demand that Germany step down and keep its word to Israel that it should be allowed to run unopposed.

Please call your Senators to urge them to strongly support Israel’s membership on the UN Security Council unopposed, as agreed in 2000, and to therefore urge Germany to stand by its word and not put itself forward for the Security Council seat in 2019.

You can reach all U.S. Senators through the Capitol Hill switchboard: 202-224-3121.

POINTS YOU MIGHT CARE TO MAKE:

Israel has been the object of incessant discrimination and defamation within the UN system for decades. As a result of this institutionalized hostility to Israel, Israel is the only country that has, until recently, been entirely unable to run for a seat on any UN bodies.

The United States under President Trump has spoken out against discrimination against Israel within the UN and promised to hold the UN accountable for its treatment of Israel. Permitting a US-brokered agreement allowing Israel to run unopposed for a seat on the Security Council would be a bad development completely at odds with the goal of a UN that does not discriminate against Israel.

Israel has kept its word since the Ambassador Holbrooke’s agreement in 2000 not to seek election to the Security Council until its turn had arrived. We owe it to Israel to see that this agreement is honored, now that Israel’s turn to seek a Security Council seat has come around.